Small Businesses Planning To Hire: 0%

Another indicator of the ‘choppiness’ of our current economic environment…

Not sure what it will take to get us ‘back on a sustainable track’…..especially when DC and the Fed are not providing the necessary economic leadership to enable sustainability – crisis to crisis is not exactly a growth strategy!

 

In a shocking state of affairs, it would appear the stock market's wealth effect is not rubbing off on the real economy. The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) shows 0% of their members planning to hire. One can only presume we need moar QE, moar deficits, and moar wealth effect.

Recovery? 0%!!

So much for the wealth effect...

Goldman's take on the NFIB data:

Small business optimism declined to 89.5 in March (vs consensus 89.8), from 90.8 in February. Components of the survey were consistent with the decline in headline optimism, as the net percent of respondents planning to hire fell to 0% (from +4%), those expecting higher sales fell to -4% (from +1%), and those reporting that it is a good time to expand ticked down to +4% (from +5%). The net percent of respondents expecting the economy to improve was unchanged at -28%, a very depressed level. However, on the positive side, +25% of respondents plan increased capital spending [ZH: With Alcoa CapEx spending at a 2 year low]. Small business owners continue to place poor sales, taxes, and red tape at the top of their list of business problems, as they have for the past several years.